Valve confirms last week's report that Portal 2 will support cross platform play between Windows, OS X, and PS3, while offering details on Steamworks support for the PS3 edition of the first-person puzzle/platformer. Word is:

January 18, 2011 -- Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the Steam features shipping with the PlayStation 3 (PS3) version of Portal 2.

Marking the debut of Steam functioning on any next generation console, the features shipping in the PS3 version of Portal 2 include cross platform play (PC/Mac vs. PS3) for multiplayer games, persistent cloud-based storage of PS3 saved games, and cross platform chat (PC/Mac and PS3).

In addition, those who purchase Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 may unlock a Steam Play (PC & Mac) copy of Portal 2 at no additional cost by linking their PSN and Steam accounts.

"We made a promise to gamers at E3 that Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 would be the best console version of the product," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Working together with Sony we have identified a set of features we believe are very compelling to gamers. We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases."

"We designed the Portal 2 PS3 experience to be very straightforward for gamers," said Josh Weier, project lead on Portal 2 at Valve. "PS3 gamers will be able to simply drop the Blu-Ray disc in the PS3, link to their Steam account from inside the game, and all their Steam friends (on PC and Mac) will be visible and accessible for chat and game invites."

These features are made possible thru the use of Steam, Valve's platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content.

Portal 2 is due for release on the PlayStation 3, PC, Mac and Xbox 360 this April.

Verno wrote on Jan 18, 2011, 10:20:It's a closed platform, it already has shitloads of DRM. Steam functionality would be the least of it, literally.

I'm guessing you are making a comment about the disc check or hardware exclusivity inherent to console games, but that is not DRM to me and not what I was talking about. If Portal 2 requires activation through Steam on the PS3 like a PC game would that is a HUGE development for console DRM. I doubt that will be the case, but maybe the multiplayer will be locked away behind a key similar to the "online pass" that EA and THQ have done?

Not really. MS said they already tried cross platform with Live and shot it down.

XBL is surrounded by the electronic equivalent of the Great Wall. It wasn't designed to play nicely with the outside world and they're still struggling with that. A huge amount of issues are legacy from when it was designed for the original Xbox, though those are letting up (such as the friends limit being lifted) as they're willing to shut down original Xbox services.

This has caused issues. No fatal ones yet, but a lot of people at Microsoft aren't happy with the limitations. This is a huge reason why you can't browse the internet on the 360 (not that anyone really wants to, trying the Wii browser once or twice is enough to make people buy a $5 cable to just hook their laptop up to the TV.) This is why Unreal Championship on the PS3 allows mods but not on the 360. This is why so many MMOs have been announced for the 360 then either disappeared or been canceled.

Not to say it isn't possible. 1nsane (or the game just like 1sane) did it with the original Xbox. FFXI is another example, same with Shadow Run. But it's difficult to work within all the limitations and every game incorporating it has flopped.

I think the next Xbox will probably feature a complete overhaul around this, as consoles are going to be close enough to PCs to allow this, but I think some in Microsoft still like the simplicity and security that comes from having XBL being a walled-in fiefdom.

Oh, I didn't mean it that way...I didn't read the part about a steam copy coming with a PS3 copy purchase. I just meant that I wouldn't have to go buy both a PC copy and a PS3 copy like I do with other games.